Most of us are recording and mixing on a computer these days. Whether Mac or PC, these machines (partnered with incredible software) act as our tape machine, outboard gear, and mixing console all in one. The power in today’s computers is stunning compared to what many of us dealt with just one short decade ago, but they don’t come without their problems. Today I want to give you a couple of helpful “rules” to live by when it comes to your music computer.
Fill It Up With RAM
No matter what software you are running, the best thing you can feed your audio computer is RAM. More RAM means more power in the moment to record with virtual instruments and amp simulators and more power to mix with the all of your dazzling plugins. Yes CPU speed is crucial, but most of us can’t change our CPU after we bought the computer. RAM is both cheap and easy to upgrade. Fill your Mac or PC up with the most you can fit (and afford). Your DAW will thank you!
Say No To Most Updates
Assuming most of you have a dual purpose computer (studio and personal use) you have to be very careful about what you choose to update when it comes to software. DAWs can be picky about what other software you have laying around and once you get your system working nicely, you probably don’t want to disturb the beast if you don’t have to.
Personally, I don’t update anything on my computer unless it’s absolutely necessary for work. No operating system updates, no iTunes updates, no nothing! Sure I miss out on all of the latest and greatest stuff (or so it seems), but my DAW keeps on trucking without a hitch. If you absolutely MUST update something, your DAW even, try not to do it in the middle of a project. Finish the project, archive the sessions, and then do the updates. If I sound like a crazy person to you, it’s probably because I’ve been doing this longer than you have. Trust me, just say no when it comes to updates!
Avoid Upgrading Your DAW As Long As You Can
This is similar to the above point. Just because your favorite DAW has a shiny new version available for download (free or paid), doesn’t mean you should jump on board just yet. Many times the updated DAW can have bugs, compatibility problems with your current OS version, etc. It’s always safer to wait it out until you absolutely NEED those “game-changing” features. Your computer will be happier, and YOU will be happier not having to deal with sluggish, slow software that isn’t quite ready for your setup. Patience young Skywalker!
Do A Periodic Fresh Install
Finally, if you feel your computer is nearing the end of its recording and mixing life, simply backup all your work and do a fresh install of the entire OS. Pretend like it’s a new computer ready for you to install all your favorite programs. You’ll likely get a cleaner, faster, and more enjoyable Mac or PC experience and can realistically extend the life of your “aging” computer.
As you may have guessed, I’m all about squeezing the absolute most out of any purchase I make. I want value for my hard earned money and so should you. If you can keep your recording/mixing computer in top shape, you stand to save a lot of coin and make more music in the long run!
Comments
No comments
I think its time my macbook pro got a fresh install and twice the ram (has 4gb in it at the moment).
and as much as I hate it.. possibly an upgrade to snow leopard as many programs are starting to leave it behind (e.g. protools).
My audio friends always ask why I’m rocking on an “old” system, and I do because of stability. I don’t want to end up in a situation like them (most of them upgraded to OSX Lion the day it came out only to wait around two weeks before they could use a lot of their applications simply because of all the bugs).
Great article Graham, and I got a question for you. I considered upgrading from XP to Windows 7, only to find out several problems even when using the same version of Nuendo on both OS (plugins that are incompatible, etc).
I will squeeze the life out of my PC with XP while I can, but one day (even if it takes a few years) I will need to change to another computer/OS/DAW.
In this scenario, what’s the best way to keep an usable archive of my songs?
Is it having a folder with the raw unprocessed audio tracks and another with the processed tracks? Maybe another with the midi tracks?
I mean, if I want to be able to use those files ten years from now, is this the best approach?
Maybe this would give a separate blog article.
Cheers
Cheers
I’m a totally sad monkey because of all this. I have a DAW box that, unfortunately, is also my general-purpose box. It was running great with XP SP3 and PT 8.0.3 and my Mbox 2. I decided to bite the bullet and add more RAM, go to Win7 x64, and PT 8.0.5 and it’s been a nightmare.
The actually process was smooth. Backed up, formatted, and installed Win 7 fresh, no problem. Installed PT and updated to 8.0.5 (since I needed Win 7 compatibility) no sweat. Followed Avid’s suggestions for disabling desktop composition, high performance mode, etc. and that was easy to do.
The nightmare is actually in using it. It’ll play back or record fine for a while, but eventually I get some sort of lo-fi garbling. It’s awful. Changing a setting – any setting – in the Hardware Setup screen fixes it temporarily, but I’m doing this 3-4 times an hour. Totally dragging me down. From what I’ve read, this is how it goes with the old Mbox 2 in Windows 7. That means another $400 for a new-generation Mbox, or a $250 upgrade to PT9 and a new interface of undetermined cost.
Nah. I just went back to Win XP Pro. My new shiny $130 Windows 7 Pro upgrade will just have to sit on the shelf.
Sure, I’ve had my Mbox 2 since 2007, so I’ve gotten a lot of return on my investment, but I’d always like more. :p
Roger –
Is there a way to export processed stems from Nuendo? That’s what I’d probably do for archival purposes. Export stems with the plugins applied, and if I was feeling saucy like I might go back to a project I’m done with, export un-processed stems as well (bypass/disable all plugins and then export).
Otherwise, I just save a 24-bit 48khz wav of the mixed-down project out of Pro Tools. Realistically, I’m never going to go back. My next song is always going to be my best one, and there’s no reason to live in the past. If I want to re-do a song, which I’ve done before, it’s always with fresh recordings and a new take entirely.
Personally I find it easiest just to build your own computer so then you know exactly how it runs. I spent $200 on my computer and got a Dual Core 3.1ghz processor and 4 gigs of ram. With Windows 7. Put in the motherboard I wanted, and the graphics card. I’m running Pro Tools LE 8.04 with an Mbox 3rd Generation. I can run up to 25 tracks in Pro Tools with 5 plug-ins on each without glitching at all.
graham, i assume you are using a pc. on the mac we have something called core audio, which is a marvellous foundation for all things audio. with the exception of os updates i regularly jump at the most recent update of any application or plugin i own. and i can tell you that i hardly ever have a problem with my daw. i also never reinstalled my system during the last 7 or 8 years or so: when i get a new computer i just use the migration assistant to pull over the stuff i need from my old machine or a time machine backup. that’s the beauty of updates: they actually fix bugs! they are meant to _improve_ things. and in reality that’s what they do. there’s one exception: i’m still at snow leopard on my production computer, because not all of my plugins are ready for lion yet, and i don’t want to get into 64 bit compatibility here. but i do test lion on my notebook and as soon as all of the plugins validate there i’ll switch to lion on the production machine as well. it’s that easy, really. and if an update introduces, and this is a rare occasion, a bug i just go back to the previous version. i can pull this one from my time machine backup again without a hassle. i really don’t think you need to be so scared of updates. unless…well, unless you have a pc…
Actually I use a Mac. No point in updating the OS if I don’t have to, because my DAW has to put out a compatible version. They don’t always release at the same time.
i run osx lion in my mac mini and have no problems at all. one day i will upgrade to more ram but right now its sufficient.
just try to keep the dust out of it
I would fill up my RAM but my rigs 32bit. I think that should be added as a disclaimer for any noobie.
Right on the money about upgrading though – I’ve stopped upgrading for a month now. Besides, Firefox and iTunes are NEVER any better with upgrades. If it works, don’t fix it. It’s really that simple.
@johannes nepomuk hummel if you’ve ever actually watched a Recording Revolution video you’d know he’s on a Mac. :p
I believe that this update ‘thing’ can be compared to the ‘new gear syndrome’.
It can be a lot of fun trying out that new DAW, but it will also consume a lot of our time learning how to do simple things that we were already making in the “old” DAW. I really don’t want to waste (more) time trying to solve problems created by many updates/upgrades, as the goal should be making/recording music, not discovering software features.
I LOVE new things, be it a new DAW or a new and better car, but let’s face it: most DAW’s today give us possibilities way above what some big budget studios would have a couple of decades ago.
That didn’t stopped them from releasing great music and amazing recordings (I’m not so sure that the final quality of music production/recording has evolved as much as the means to do it), and that it’s why I’m trying to update…
…my knowledge.
With how fast standard RAM amounts are increasing, at what point will RAM completely be eliminated as a limiting factor in how well your computer can perform as the host of a DAW.
I mean, only very occasionally did I ever have problems with cpu power when I bought my first macbook 5 years ago which I bought factory upgraded with 2 GB of RAM. My new macbook pro came with 4 GB RAM standard and it has given me no more hiccups than I can count on my hands in the year I have owned it. Of course, my recordings are fairly simple relatively, considering I seldom go over a 15 or so track count, and most of the time I stay under 10.
Would it be superfluous for me to upgrade to 8 GB of RAM for my macbook pro?
Coming from The Linux World of things, I’d like to make a few remarks. In Linux and its all-endearing dependency hell choosing the right distribution is the key. I tend to agree with Graham; choosing a distribution that tries to stay on “the bleeding edge” is a mistake in audio work.
But then there’s the problem with the open source development model and new hardware. Hardware vendors push their latest products to the market and even for commercial OS:s they produce drivers and software that is untested and downright useless – nudgenudge, winkwink Terratec saynomore. The open software community struggles to keep up with the hardware, often at vendors disregard for any standards. The most common problem in almost all hardware in Linux is so called “Windows compatibility”, which spells for tinkered hardware and software solutions aka. firmware. Apple as a hardware+software vendor keeps its users in a tight lock, which is a relief for the DAW clicking musician/engineer.
With Linux I follow Grahams advice: keep up with what works , software or hardware and when considering an update, choose the stable version. It’s possible download and compile the latest version, but even the free software distributors often recommend: ” Don’t use this on a production machine”.
If anyone is interested, my distribution of choice is Debian GNU/Linux. It follows a strict “diet” of long testing before releasing software as a stable version, sometimes even years. It’s like they’ve heard about Graham..
..or anyone who does work on a computer…
My DAW is a stand alone machine. It’s not connected to a network. I use different computers for different things and out of the 9 computers I have, only two are Windows based. Of those 2, I only use one which has proprietary software specific to design work. The other Windows PC gets updates once a month, then I shut it off again until next month.